It’s time to start a new journey!

After a phenomenal 12+ years as the CEO of UpCloud, I decided to take the summer to think through what I wanted to do next. The world is full of opportunities, and I want to experience more of them. That’s one of the biggest reasons I chose not to jump straight into another tech company or found one of my own.

Instead, I’ve decided to pursue another long-standing passion of mine: investing and trading.

I’ve traded publicly listed companies for close to 30 years now, starting (as far as I can remember) with the IPO of Saunalahti back in the 1990s. These days, I focus mostly on U.S. equities with a few European exceptions every now and then.

Over the years, I’ve both succeeded and burned through a few portfolios under the illusion that I had “cracked it”. I’ve since mastered investing, which I define more as a buy and hold type of a strategy where you seldom sell your assets. I realised that in many cases my hypothesis were correct and I saw good appreciation in my portfolio, but only to realise that the market had turned against me and I gave away some of those gains.

I’ve since transformed more into trading and more specifically swing trading. In my approach I hold equities anywhere from a few days to a several weeks, sometimes a few months and then bagging the gains by closing that position – be it long or short. Whenever you trade more actively, your own thoughts begin to eat your confidence and Mr. Market will always keep you humble. For about 5 years now, I’ve shifted my focus inward — learning how I react to the market. Every successful trader knows your biggest opponent isn’t the market, it’s yourself.

That discipline has helped me build a strategy rooted in macroeconomics, company fundamentals, and market dynamics (price, volatility, and volume). By sticking to it, I’ve steadily become consistently profitable and perhaps most importantly, I’ve been able to scale this up and maintain profitability.

In 2024, I traded almost exclusively a single stock and achieved an annual return of +194% (after several withdrawals from my accounts). This year, in September 2025, my performance stands at +98% YTD after navigating two larger drawdowns. As you can see – I’m not aiming for 10-15% market returns, but those truly add value over a longer period. This ambition is really something I’ve picked up from startups and what it takes to change the world.

While my primary ambition is to continue trading successfully for myself and my family, I have broader goals. Through our family office fund, I also invest selectively into private companies — especially those with strong founders, distinctive positioning, and global ambitions. Over time, I’d love to combine this with my trading work and evolve into a boutique hedge fund platform that could also welcome outside partners.

I’m not in a rush — if the performance and ambition remain a year from now, I may take that step.

Here’s to sustainable alpha — and to the next chapter!